Blizzard Sweeps Through Northeast

Hundreds of Thousands Lose Power in New England; 10 Deaths Blamed on Storm

ENLARGE

A woman walks down Beacon Hill in Boston early Saturday.
Reuters

By

Jennifer Levitz And

Jon Kamp

Updated Feb. 9, 2013 8:43 p.m. ET

EASTON, Mass.—A historic blizzard pummeled the Northeast, dumping up to three feet of snow across New England and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in New England.

The storm set record snowfall in Portland, Maine, with nearly 32 inches. Parts of Connecticut got more than three feet of snow.

An animation of imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9 shows two weather systems colliding and creating a blizzard of historic proportions in the U.S Northeast. Video has no sound. Courtesy NASA.

A time-lapse camera in the Journal's offices in Manhattan captured the scene on Sixth Avenue, looking north toward Radio City Music Hall, as a record-setting snowstorm blew through the city. Video by Jarrard Cole

"This has been a record-breaking storm," said Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The cleanup "will go on for a number of days; this will not all be done today," Gov. Malloy said.

Keeping warm was a concern as motorists were stranded for hours and as some homes were looking at days without power. An 11-year-old boy in Boston died of carbon-monoxide poisoning Saturday. He was helping his father shovel snow and took a break to warm up in a car. Apparently snow was clogging the exhaust pipe, emergency officials said. They also warned residents to make sure home-heating vents were cleared of snow, saying a number of people had been taken to the hospital for carbon-monoxide inhalation.

Several rescued motorists in Connecticut were treated for hypothermia, state officials said, and Gov. Malloy said heating centers were being set up in areas without power.

Photos

A woman walked through the snow in Boston. Mario Tama/Getty Images

At least 10 deaths were being blamed on the storm. In addition to the boy in Boston, a Connecticut woman using a snow blower was killed Friday night in a hit-and-run accident and a 49-year-old man died early Saturday, apparently while shoveling snow. A 23-year-old man in New York died after he went off the edge of a roadway while plowing his driveway and a 74-year-old man died after being struck by a car whose driver lost control in the snow, police said. Also in New York, a 58-year-old man died while clearing snow from his car. A 74-year-old woman died in a car crash in Maine and three people died in Ontario, Canada—an 80-year-old woman who collapsed while shoveling her driveway and two men in car accidents.

Nearly 630,000 customers in New England remained without power Saturday afternoon. Massachusetts—particularly the southeastern portion of the state, where electricity in several towns was almost completely knocked out—bore the brunt, with nearly 400,000 homes and businesses without power.

It is likely to take days to restore power to all 250,000 of its customers affected by outages along the Massachusetts coast, utility NStar said. The blizzard brought "devastating damage to our system," said NStar spokesman Michael Durand. "It's been near impossible to get out on the roads. Now that we are starting to be able to do that, the assessment and repair of damage is going to take several days."

The Pilgrim nuclear-power plant in Plymouth, Mass., automatically shut down Friday night after the facility lost its electricity supply from the grid, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Saturday. Diesel generators were supplying electricity to the plant, which was stable, the NRC said. The Pilgrim plant is operated by Entergy Corp.

The storm also knocked out power to nearly 186,000 homes and businesses in Rhode Island, and about 39,000 in Connecticut, utilities said. About 10,000 customers remained without power Saturday in Long Island, the worst-hit part of New York state, where some areas got more than 30 inches of snow.

More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut. Areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched two feet or more of snow. In Concord, N.H., the 24-inch snowfall was the second biggest on record. Boston got 25 inches of snow, short of a record. Wind gusts in Massachusetts reached 83 mph and the storm ranked among the top five recorded in the state, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson.

From Connecticut to Maine, many people couldn't open their doors because they were blocked by so much snow.

"But it is still the better judgment, if you can, to stay in, and off the roads," said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Flights began to resume Saturday in New York City-area airports, but Boston's Logan Airport remained closed and more than 2,000 flights in the region were canceled Saturday, according to Flightstats, bringing the total since Friday to 6,333 flights. Logan Airport said it expected to reopen one runway late Saturday night, the Associated Press reported.

Amtrak extended its suspension of train service between New York and Boston through Saturday night, and the Boston area's transit network remained shut down for the day on Saturday.

Scenes from around Connecticut show the aftermath of the "Nemo" blizzard. Some areas received more than three feet of snow. Photo: Associated Press.

As a blizzard bears down on the Northeast, passersby in Times Square took time Friday night to pause and enjoy the beauty of the falling snow.

Two neighborhoods in Quincy, Mass., were evacuated because of flooding concerns.

Still, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said at midday Saturday that the city had weathered the storm well so far. "No major power outages, no severe flooding, though we still have a ways to go," he said.

Some of the worst of the storm appeared to hit Connecticut, where the snow made travel nearly impossible even for emergency responders who found themselves stuck on highways all night. In the shoreline community of Fairfield, police and firefighters could not come in to work, so the overnight shift was staying on duty, said First Selectman Michael Tetreau.

"It's a real challenge out there," Mr. Tetreau told the Associated Press. "The roads are not passable at this point."

Early snowfall was blamed for a 19-car pileup in Cumberland, Maine, that caused minor injuries. Several state police cruisers in Maine were stuck in the deep snow. In New York, hundreds of cars got stuck on the Long Island Expressway on Friday and dozens of cars remained disabled Saturday as police worked to free them.

Even the U.S. Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery Saturday in New England.

New York City, where 11 inches of snow fell in Central Park, avoided the worst of the storm. "We were very lucky," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. He said all city streets would be cleared of snow by the end of Saturday.

In New Jersey, the worst-hit area was northern Bergen County, which got 15 inches of snow. Utilities reported minimal power outages in the state.

Meteorologists were blaming the nor'easter on the collision of two storm systems: cold air traveling south from Canada bumping into a moist low pressure system heading north from the Carolinas.

—Cassandra Sweet, Sean Gardiner and the Associated Press contributed to this article.

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